Hedge fund founder Brian Kim gets 15 years for Ponzi scheme

Bailey McCann, Opalesque New York: Brian Kim, founder of the now defunct hedge fund Liquid Capital Management, was sentenced to 15 years in prison by New York Supreme Court Judge, Charles H. Solomon, today after being convicted of charges that his fund was really a Ponzi scheme. He was convicted of sending monthly statements to investors showing that their accounts had inflated gains, according to prosecutors in the case.

He also pleaded guilty to stealing $435,000. Kim fled to Hong Kong on the eve of his trial but was caught and returned to New York 10 months later. According to the ruling, Kim will serve a five-to-15 year sentence in state prison but will remain in federal prison for another seven months, on an earlier passport fraud conviction related to his escape to Hong Kong. According to an account in BusinessWeek Kim used investor money to fund lavish shopping trips, travel and lifestyle expenses.

An account in Advanced Trading notes that Kim told the judge that when he is released he hopes to find gainful employment and repay all of his victims. Kim told investors that he was putting their money into stable investments and instead put investors funds into highly speculative futures contracts causing massive losses without their knowledge and ......................